The iPhone is, after all this time, still the pretty new girl on the block. I can’t think of any other cell phone that has become quite the style icon that the iPhone has become. It’s got features, looks, and an interface no one else has been able to match. It also comes with a single carrier (at least in the US), a hefty price tag and some features I’m not wild about.

That’s why I’m still on Windows Mobile, along with a massive portion of the rest of the world. Windows Mobile is one of the most-used mobile operating systems, but it’s been largely pushed aside as the iPhone has become more popular. The iPhone has all its great applications, but there are a number of fantastic, useful, fun and plain cool Windows Mobile apps as well.

Here are five free applications for Windows Mobile, many of which have iPhone counterparts, but that do their job at least as well as they do on that Apple-thing.

Evernote

My favorite “external brain”, Evernote helps you remember everything. With Evernote for Windows Mobile, all you’ll need on you is your cell phone. Just fire up the app, and you can create notes from pictures, text or voice. Search and browse your notes, share and edit them, and manage your head right from your Windows Mobile phone.

Unlike the iPhone (as best as I could tell), there’s also a link to upload a file, which means you’re able to send files to and from your Windows Mobile phone. It’s perfect for when you need to remember to buy something, how much something costs, something you need to do, or just about anything that comes into your head that you’d rather not fly right out.

Fring is the mobile IM client to end all mobile IM clients. It connects to most major instant messaging networks- AIM, Google, Yahoo, MSN, and the like. If you’ve got a Wi-Fi enabled phone, there’s even another killer feature- Skype. You can make VOIP calls with your cell phone, using Fring’s Skype support, and not use your minutes or plan, but simply by picking up a wireless signal.

Even without Wi-Fi, though, Fring’s a killer application for instant messaging, and can even update your Twitter status for you.

Even though Fring can update Twitter for you, odds are Twitter users will want a bit more. That’s where Tiny Twitter comes in. It’s a Twitter cleint for Windows Mobile that also works on any Java-enabled device which covers some serious ground. Using Tiny Twitter, you can tweet without hitting your SMS bill (though you will incur some data charges without a data plan).

Tiny Twitter allows full access to your Twitter timeline, makes replying and messaging easy, and the “Inbox” view gives you a simple way to see and respond to tweets directed at you. Tiny Twitter’s the perfect Windows Mobile app for tweeting on the go, and is actually better than anything I’ve found for the iPhone.

The Core Pocket Media Player

TCPMP, as The Core Pocket Media Player is known, is the best way to watch movies and listen to music on a Windows Mobile phone. You can use it to stream media (again, watch the data charges), or to play a huge variety of formats of both video and audio. It’s a no-frills application with a small memory footprint that’s dead simple to use, and one road warriors won’t want to be without. Especially when you add the use of a memory card, TCPMP works with your phone to make it a killer media player- small screen or no small screen.

What fun is a phone you can’t play with? The iPhone has a ton of great games, but let’s be honest – there’s never been a game as wonderful as Tetris. The blocks, the twisting, the narrow misses that leave you tearing your hair out – it’s just glorious.

If you have a Windows Mobile phone, you needn’t ever be without Tetris again. It’s a free download called Kevtris, and is a blast to play. There are three levels of play, and several different games you can play as well – all similar to Tetris. It’s a fantastic time-waster, and a game I like better than anything the iPhone’s thrown at me.

I’ve been a Windows Mobile user for a while now, and thanks to these applications and more, I don’t plan on changing anytime soon. There are applications to do everything that I need, for free, and plus – I just love having an actual keyboard.

Are you a Windows Mobile user? What applications do you have, and which do you envy of the iPhone?

i am a proud Tilt and Windows Mobile User and i am happy with everything WM has offered so far. I am in no way envious of anything Apple of the iphone has to offer. Here's a partial list of the apps i have installed on my tilt:

Wow- THAT is a great list. I've got some looking and testing to do with my own phone. Skyfire was the last one left off my list- I love it. It's infinitely better than the Internet Explorer, and as good as I need it to be compared to the iPhone Safari. Thanks for the list!

+1 for Skyfire, although I also really like Opera Mini. Skyfire is great when I'm using wifi, even if the app does use almost all of my phone's RAM... But since my phone doesn't use 3G (it uses EDGE), the only browser that's really usable without wifi is Opera Mini. Smaller memory footprint, much faster page loading, all in all it's pretty great.

And one "word to the wise" -- if you happen to flash the ROM on an HTC phone and all of a sudden see an application called OMPAPClock, don't use it! It's an overclocking utility, but when I tried to use it my phone froze and wouldn't start up again. I had to do a hard reset and lose all the programs I'd installed.

That's pretty much comparing apples (literally) to bananas. The Nokia 5800 is NOT designed to be a "smartphone" like the Windows Mobile phones and maybe the iPhone, which also reflected in the price tag. I am not saying it doesn't seem to be a nifty phone, just it is not in the same league.

That's it? That's the applications you came up with to make Windows Mobile a Kick-Ass-Phone?

I really do not like Apple and I will never buy an iPhone, but I have to say, compared to my HTC WinMo phone, the iPhone is the only one kicking ass, no matter what applications I add. Shame on MS for squandering years and years of development and allowing Apple to come out with a phone that virtually decimates all WinMo phones in the first rond.

WinMo sucks, because it's GUI sucks! An iPhone has an outstanding interface, easy to use and quick to grasp.

I hope MS took note and their next release will kick it up a notch, but that was my hope for MS Vista, too and look what happened....

Windows Mobile on my HTC Diamond Pro and Diamond is hands down AWESOME! It does everything the iPhone does and then some. I have loaded up a custom rom courtesy of NATF from XDA which makes it even more awesome. Then I load up Matt's FuzeBerry software which tricks out TouchFlo 3d. I have seen some demos of the next Windows Mobile version and it is even tighter.

If there is some interest I can post some Windows Mobile tips/tweaks... Let me know if anyone is interested!

A WinMo tips/tweaks article would be awesome. I have an HTC Excalibur, I bought it as a "T-Mobile Dash" but then I loaded the HTC factory ROM and turned it into the non-crippled phone it's supposed to be. Now that it's not running T-Mobile's crappy version of the OS, I no longer think WinMo sucks (I guess it also helps that it's the 6.1 HTC ROM instead of the 6.0 that was originally on it).

All that being said, the phone itself is a little shy on memory (the most I've been able to get cleared and available at one time is ~19MB), so any tweaks that would help make it run more efficiently would be great.

Also, we do all realize that the "WinMo/iPhone/Nokia is the best and everything else SUCKS" comments all amount to stating an opinion as though it were a fact...right?

That's a great idea! Good point, btw, about WinMo not being the problem- the reality is that the carriers cripple you far more than Windows ever could.

As for memory-saving tips, stay tuned- I'll see what I can cook up.

Richard

January 6, 2009 at 10:58 pm

Hi, I have a Diamond Touch, i would love to read a good article on making it the phone it should be.... My phone came from overseas (i live in Australia) as i bought it before we had it here so i cannot get a copy of the firmware released for my service provider... It sounds like you have some good third party stuff on there - any pointers would be great.

Also I tried to get the media player mentioned in this article and it is no longer supported... the downloaded file did not work for me :(